You didn’t think the Treasury was going to just let the bitcoin business develop outside the system, did you?

WSJ reports:
The U.S. is applying money-laundering rules to “virtual currencies,” amid growing concern that new forms of cash bought on the Internet are being used to fund illicit activities.

he move means that firms that issue or exchange the increasingly popular online cash will now be regulated in a similar manner as traditional money-order providers such as Western Union Co. WU 0.00% They would have new bookkeeping requirements and mandatory reporting for transactions of more than $10,000.[…]

The arm of the Treasury Department that fights money laundering said Monday that the standard federal banking rules aimed at suspicious dollar transfers also apply to firms that issue or exchange money that isn’t linked to any government and exists only online.